City of Los Angeles Extends Its “Safer at Home” Posting Requirements to May 15

On May 4, Mayor Eric Garcetti extended Los Angeles’s strict pandemic-driven health directive to May 15, signaling a gradual easing of restrictions from there if and as conditions warrant.  It has been a remarkable evolution.

The city’s March 19, 2020 initial “Safer at Home” public order restricts public gatherings and effectively causing non-essential businesses to close their physical locations.  Failure to comply with the order is a misdemeanor that can result in fines and/or imprisonment.

Certain business operations and activities are exempt for providing essential activities and services critical to the city’s health and well-being, including but not limited to • healthcare operations, • grocery stores, • gas stations, • auto repair shops, • financial institutions, • hardware stores, • plumbers, •  electricians, • mailing and shipping services, • certain educational institutions to facilitate distance learning, • laundromats, • dry cleaners, • restaurants (via delivery service, pick-up service or drive-thru), and • transportation services.

On April 10, 2020, Mayor Garcetti revised the order to require all exempt essential businesses to adopt and post near their entrances a “Social Distancing Protocol” by April 15 for every facility they operate, a blank sample provided in Appendix A to that order.  Essential businesses must also provide a copy of the Protocol to each employee performing work onsite. See, Keep It to Yourself; Essential Workers Must Cover Up and Stay Six Feet Apart (April 16, 2020).

That revised version also permitted non-essential businesses to conduct minimum basic operations including • inventory, • security, • custodial services, • payroll and employee benefits processing, and • any reasonable activity designed to maximize the ability for its employees to work remotely from their homes.

On April 27, 2020 and as further revised May 4, 2020, Mayor Garcetti required any non-essential businesses conducting minimum basic operations to keep their doors closed and locked to the public at all times and to post a sign on their main entrances stating that the business is closed to the public.

This  locked-to-the-public version of the order remains in place until May 15, 2020 and may be extended or modified from there.

See also:

• Our New Normal Week Seven (May 1, 2020)
• The New Normal; Organizing or Post-Pandemic Workplace Revival (April 30, 2020)
• Are We Done Yet?; Workplace Return Planning (April 29, 2020)
• Thinking the Unthinkable; Workplace Return? (April 23, 2020)
• COVID-19 Safety Nets; Overview of CARES Act Small Business Loans (April 14, 2020)
• When the Show Must Go On; Key Protection for an Employee’s COVID-19 Diagnosis/ Symptoms (April 8, 2020)

For more information about these laws or other employment issues related to coronavirus, contact Tim Bowles, Cindy Bamforth or Helena Kobrin.

Cindy Bamforth

May 6, 2020